High School Students Build Affordable Housing

ST. GEORGE, UT - One family in Enoch will have about 30 high school students to thank for their five-bedroom home. Students enrolled in Snow Canyon High School's and Hurricane High School's construction classes each built half of the home, said Greg Bartholomew, the instructor for both schools and English teacher at Snow Canyon High. The students built the framework, cut the wood, finished and painted the walls, and even laid the tile.

Half of the home, which smelled of freshly cut wood and new paint, awaited its journey to Enoch on Friday afternoon. "It's pretty awesome to build something you know somebody will live in," said Snow Canyon senior Cameron Beck. "In this class, you realize how much work goes into building." Dixie Applied Technology College, in conjunction with Utah Housing Corp., facilitated the construction programs, said Scott Harmon, housing program manager for Utah Housing Corp. Harmon said the Utah Housing Corp. funds the project and has oversight of the construction.

Once the house is completely finished, low-income families can apply to purchase it at a much lower-than-market cost, he said. "We work across the state to build affordable housing," Harmon said. Students at Southern Utah University also participated in the project by constructing and finishing the basement in Enoch. The students built each half of the house on the school campuses and then had the halves trucked to Enoch. Bartholomew said the home will probably sell for about $200,000, he said.

Usually, the students build the home on-site, said Max S. Lowe, vice president of Dixie Applied Technology College. But this year, the Utah Housing Corp. could not find land for a reasonable price to build affordable housing in the St. George area. Lowe said while students may have built the home as part of their education, prospective buyers should not be concerned about the quality of the product. "They may have to do it a couple of times to get it right, but it will be done right," Lowe said.

Some of the teens who laid tile had to do just that after they realized the tile in the kitchen was going the wrong way. Sophomore Jim Macari said it was frustrating to pull all the tile off and start over, but said it was worth it to get it right. "We know how to tile now," said classmate Katie Gunn. Drivers moved one part of the house on Thursday and the other part of the house on Friday.

Senior Cole James said he felt a sense of accomplishment once the house was finished. "It feels great," he said. "You drive by the house and say, 'I built that and it's the best looking house in the neighborhood." James also helped build last year's house in Washington, he said. Bartholomew said he would like to start a construction program in all of the Washington County School District's high schools. "Being an English teacher for 18 years, I didn't understand the whole vocational thing," he said. "But a lot of these students will be general contractors. Everybody needs a place to live."

Bartholomew said his ultimate goal would be to partner with local cities and have his students build work-force housing. His class will now begin constructing playhouses for the rest of the semester, he said. "They'll be real houses with electricity and everything, just for little people," Bartholomew said. The class will sell the playhouses to raise money for their program.